ARGININE-VASOPRESSIN RECEPTOR ANTAGONISTS FOR TREATMENT OF VASOGENIC BRAIN EDEMA - AN EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY

Recent studies indicate that centrally released arginine vasopressin ( AVP) facilitates brain water permeability in normal and pathological c onditions, The effects of central administration of arginine vasopress in (AVP) receptor antagonists on vasogenic brain edema were studied in rats, V-1 or V-2 receptor antagonists were stereotactically injected into the lateral ventricle 10 min prior to or 1 h after cold brain inj ury, The injury resulted in significant increases in the mean water co ntent of the lesion and the contralateral hemispheres by 1.15 and 0.38 %, respectively, Twenty-four hours after injury, the brain water and s odium contents, the brain swelling, and plasma osmolality were measure d. V-1 receptor antagonist of 50 ng significantly decreased the brain water and sodium contents and the brain swelling in the adjacent corte x of the lesion without changes in serum osmolality, On the other hand , 5 ng of V-1 receptor antagonist and V-2 receptor antagonist had no e ffect on edema. The V-1 receptor of AVP is thought to act predominantl y on water permeability of the brain, Peptide therapy may become an ad ditional tool for brain edema treatment.